Victoria. There is an immense preponderance of the masculine element,
nearly six to one among the Europeans, and among the Orientals the men
are nearly two and a half times as numerous as the women.

As Victoria is a free port, it is impossible to estimate the value of
its imports and exports, but its harbor, full of huge merchantmen, and
craft of all nations, its busy wharves, its crowd of lighters loading
and unloading by day and night, its thronged streets and handsome
shops, its huge warehouses, packed with tea, silk, and all the costly
products of the East, and its hillsides terraced with the luxurious
houses of its merchants, all say, "Circumspice, these are better than
statistics!"]

I. L. B.



LETTER III

The S.S. Kin Kiang--First View of Canton--The Island of
Shameen--England in Canton--The Tartar City--Drains and
Barricades--Canton at Night--Street Picturesqueness--Ghastly
Gifts--Oriental Enchantments--The Examination Hall


S.S. "KIN KIANG," December 30.

You will remember that it is not very long since a piratical party of
Chinese, shipping as steerage passengers on board one of these Hong
Kong river steamers, massacred the officers and captured the boat. On